Gloucestershire Constabulary is one of six police forces in England to have been put under special measures.

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has confirmed that the county force has been put in what the watchdog calls 'engage' status.

This signifies that it has concerns about 'serious or critical shortcomings'.

The Metropolitan Police, the UK's largest police force, was placed under special measures this week after a series of failures, and it is joined by Greater Manchester, Cleveland, Gloucestershire, Staffordshire and Wiltshire.

In its latest assessment of Gloucestershire Constabulary, HMICFRS found that the force was 'good' at preventing crime, treatment of the public, disrupting serious organised crime and developing a positive workplace. It was 'adequate' at managing offenders.

However, it was said to be 'inadequate' at investigating crime, supporting victims, recording data about crime, responding to the public, protecting vulnerable people and good use of resources.

A statement from Gloucestershire Constabulary said: "The Constabulary was subject to the HMICFRS PEEL inspection programme in early 2021 and was one of the first forces to be inspected under a new framework. Our report was published in October 2021 and whilst it identified a number of areas of good performance, there were also other, important areas, where our performance was inadequate.

"These areas, as would be expected, led to us being escalated from the 'scan' tier of inspection with HMICFRS and into 'engage'. In the 12 months since we have made substantial progress on improvements and will continue to do so with energy and pace.

"Whilst the engage process holds forces to account, we have found it to be a supportive step that gives access to additional subject matter expertise from bodies such as the College of Policing.

"Since being advised of our move into the engage phase we have welcomed and embraced the opportunities it presents to make improvements comprehensively and sustainably."